The leap to Male Surgical
by Avid fangirl for life
Summary: Modern au. Delia gets moved wards, to male surgical and finds herself working with the aloof Patsy Mount. Basically this popped into my head and I wanted to try my had at a multi chapter.
There was something about a day starting badly, Delia thought, that seemed to put a damper on the spirits. Delia liked to think that she had the spirit of the Welsh, through and through. She tried not to let anything phase her, or hold her back, and she tried to always keep a smile on her face no matter what. Some days, however, called for an exception. Today proved to be such a day.

It wasn't that she had woken on the wrong side of bed, quite the opposite in fact. She'd woken in a cracking mood, all high spirits and eagerness. Part of loving her job and her ward was that she could never quite seem to get out of the front door fast enough. No, in fact, her day hadn't taken a turn until after the start of her shift.

She hadn't known anything was amiss, despite the side wards glances of her colleagues, until she'd been called into the side office to find the head of the ward, Phyllis Crane, waiting there for her. With none other than Caroline. Of course, as soon as that had happened, she'd known exactly what it was about. And even if she hadn't, Caroline sniffling with her head bowed would have given the whole situation away.

She wasn't an idiot, after all. Still, she'd found herself in a meeting in which her professionalism was question, her job was almost compromised and she'd been asked to formally apologise. Which was ridiculous of course, she'd always been very clear about her boundaries.

She should have known that the whole thing with Caroline would come back to bite her in the arse. Looking back, she supposed she could have handled things better. She could have had more decorum, taken more care. She hadn't meant to hurt her, but she'd made it very clear that it was a one night thing, just a way to scratch an itch. And Caroline had been more than eager. In retrospect, she supposed that should of been enough of a clue. It was a bit too late for that now though.

Now she'd been shunted from the department she'd loved, and all because her coworker didn't know the meaning of a one night stand. Still, it was either move or find a new job. That wasn't likely with no reference and a stain on her permanent record. So, she'd found herself shunted off to Male Surgical, a ward so outdated that it was barely used.

She'd tried to go with a spring in her step, but she'd left feeling oddly heavy. Maybe it was just the stuff from her cleared out locker weighing her down. She'd arrived on Male Surgical to find only one other nurse on shift, a Nurse Patsy Mount. And that had been where the true problem with her day had started.

Nurse Mount had so far proven herself to be polite but aloof. When Delia had freed an arm to shake her hand, she'd taken it hesitantly. When she had shaken her hand with what must have been considered far too much enthusiasm she'd watched Nurse Mount's face contort.

Nurse Mount was polite, but didn't seem to want to chatter. And worse than that, the ward was silent and there didn't seem to be much of anything to do. Two nurses were barely required and Delia found herself bored at work for the first time in recent history. She was very much an active person, not having anything to do bored her beyond belief. And so she found herself watching Nurse Mount, and for the first time she noticed how very pretty she was.

Her hair was such a shade of red that Delia was sure that she must be hiding a fiery persona beneath her calm and almost detached exterior. Her high cheekbones were nothing to scoff at either, as for her eyes, well damn. Delia couldn't help wondering whether she was so quiet by habit, or simply because she was more of a thinker than a talker. It could just be her presence, she knew she could be a bit much for most people at times.

By midday, she found herself desperate for conversation. For the first time in her history at the hospital, she found herself taking her break alone. She ate by herself, and smoked by herself and she couldn't help but wonder why she felt quite so alone. She guessed she was just having one of those days. Mam said that everyone got them every so often. She guessed Mam was right on that one. Which made a change. Her Mam had a tendency to ignore the obvious if it didn't suit her most of the time. Hell, she was still talking about Delia meeting a nice lad and settling down in Tenby, even though she was so openly gay she'd once drunkenly described herself as a raging lesbian (not one of her finer moments).

By the time she'd gotten back to the ward and found Patsy still at the desk where she'd left her, she'd been so sick of the silence she was close to talking to herself. Silence had a tendency to drive her to extremes far quicker than it probably should.

And so Delia found herself spending the majority of her afternoon trying to engage Nurse Mount in a conversation, every attempt at which was met with brush offs or half hearted replies. Now Delia liked to think of herself as a positive person, she was optimistic and spent the majority of her life happy, but she'd already had the day from hell. She started to think that working on Male Surgical would dry up her love of nursing. It was only her first day and she was already growing to dread returning day after day after day after day.

In the past, whenever she'd had a bad day, she'd had her colleagues and friends to rely on. She got the sense that wouldn't be the case here. Her career suddenly seemed empty and she almost found herself wishing that she'd done something rash and handed in her notice this morning. Almost. But something made her want to work out Nurse Mount, a part of her wanted to understand her. Plus she didn't want to just give in and quit. That would be like proving to the whole village back home that she couldn't make it on her own in the world. And she could, she had so far.

As five pm rolled around, Nurse Mount's shift ended, and she left with a simple "good evening". Less than half an hour later, the person working the night shift showed up and it was finally, finally the end of a day from hell for Delia. She entered the locker room, only to find Nurse Mount still in there, having a whispered argument down the phone.

Delia froze, not knowing what to do. She could hear Nurse Mount's voice, whispering furiously down the phone.

"No Gracie, don't do that. I'll be home in half an hour tops, I promise. I'm just leaving, my bus is due."

The person on the other end replied.

"No, Gracie." Delia cleared her throat, not wanting to intrude or listen in any more. Knowing that she couldn't leave without drawing attention to herself. Nurse Mount's head flys up, and even from the other side of the room, Delia can see the colour blooming in her cheeks.

"Gracie, I have to go." Delia can tell that her new colleague is beyond pissed, why she has no idea. Delia starts to smile awkwardly, getting ready to explain herself, but Nurse Mount already has a hold of her bag and she's stalking towards her. It's inappropriate in its timing, but Delia can't help but note how beautiful Nurse Mount is in her anger.

Nurse Mount stops short of her, eyes swimming with anger, mouth pulled into a taut line.

"You have no right to listen in on my personal conversations." Her voice is low, and Delia doesn't entirely understand why she's so angry. It wasn't like she did it purposely, and it is a shared locker room. Before Delia can even craft a reply in her head, what with the way it's spinning in circles due to her confusion, Nurse Mount is out of the door. Delia hears it shut behind her, it seems that even in her anger Nurse Mount is discreet, not wanting to cause a scene.

Delia still isn't quite sure what just happened, but she does know that maybe working on Male Surgical Wong be quite so boring after all.


End file.
